You will need:

• Paper plates
• Paper cupcake cases
• Paints – we prefer acrylic paints
• Paint brush
• Glue
• Scissors
• Googly eyes
• Black sharpie pen

Step 1: Cut out your fish shapes

You can make a fish with a big round body and leave the paper plate as it is.

If you want a thinner fish then cut away the sides of the plate, leaving you with a nice curved fish shape.

Step 2: Glue on the fins

You can use one of the pieces you have cut from the side of the plate to make the fins.

Simply glue the piece onto the underneath your fish shape, as shown.

Step 3: Paint your fish

Paint your fish in whatever colour you choose.

We used acrylic paint, which covers the cardboard well. Our chosen colour was a bright, cheery orange.

Step 4: Cut out some scales

Cut little paper cupcake cases in half and flatten them slightly to make lots of colourful fish scales.

Step 5: Start sticking on the scales

Starting from the ‘tail’ of your fish, stick down the paper bun case scales in columns. As you move towards the fish’s head adding new rows of cupcake liners, overlap them with the previous row.

If you spread the glue only along the base of the cupcake liner (i.e. along the straight edge) then the tops of the cupcake liners will also stick up a little.

This can make the scales look a little textured.

Step 6: Cover the fish’s body with scales

Keep sticking on scales to cover the whole body of your little fish.

Step 7: Make a tail

Cut a large paper bun case in half and fold it in concertina folds to make a fan.

Glue this to the back of your fish to make the tail.

Step 8: Add the finishing touches

Now glue on a googly eye and draw on a little smile to finish off your colourful fish.